Multi DB Admin Help

Emerald Designs Inc. Copyright 2003
www.multidbexpress.com

Installation
Add/Delete/Modify Fields
Add Fields Data
Search/Modify Delete Field Data
Import Database
Export Database
Output Display(altering search & results pages/setting database config.)
User Search (accesses the users side)
Admin Login
Designing a Database(Outline procedure)
Interfacing to a Database from your Website
Notes

MultidB Express is produced by multidbexpress.com(copyright 2000) which is not liable for any damage or loss which may occur as a result of use of this program. The following is the manual for MultiDB which continues to grow. It includes specifics on Database operations,a test case, and recommendations. Multidb Manual also can be viewed under HELP on the admin screens.

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INSTALLATION: Make sure PERL5 and modules(CGI.pm) are installed on a UNIX machine. There are 3 main scripts. One script is called "ezdb.pl" , this is the admin side script, one called "multidbuser.pl", and "mdbwizard.pl" which is the file for setting up a 'database' quickly . Place these in the cgi-bin. Set their permissions to 755. On unix using telnet type chmod 755 filename in the cgi-bin. You can also set permissions by using your FTP program you used for uploading files to the server. The HTML admin login page "mdblogin.htm ''is placed in the directory above the cgi-bin(root dir).

Create a directory called "multidb" in your main directory. All files created will be placed in this directory. Set its permissions for read/write for all (chmod 666, orchmod 777 dirname using Telnet) or FTP program.

Configure the "multidbconfig.pl" file and place this in your cgi-bin.

There are 4 other auxillary scripts . One is 'multidbchat.pl' which is the chat room script .Another is 'orderconfirmed.pl' which is used to activate an account with an activation signal from Pay Pal if you should use a paid membership setup. The other is 'multidbcron.pl' which can be set to remove expired accounts at a specified time. The fourth script is 'formmail.cgi' used for the contact form processing.You need to set the Perl paths of the top line for the path on your server and upload these.

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CURRENT DIRECTORY STRUCTURE:

Root Document Dir- contains files for admin screen

mdbhelp.htm
mdbmenu.htm
mdblogin.htm- admin login
fw_menu.js
mdbloginbot.htm
mdbmenu.htm
top menu.awm
top_menu_test.js
top_test.html

awmData-dhtml_menu_test ( folder)
awmData-top_menu_test ( folder)
images (folder)- images for DHTML menu

multidb(folder)chmod 666,777-contains templates ,sample db template files, chat templates and main admin screen admin.htm

templates (folder)-for future use

cgi-bin folder chmod 755
ezdb.pl(admin side)
mdbwizard.pl
multidbuser.pl(user side) multidb-->(dbases here)
multidbcron.pl
multidbchat.pl
orderconfirmed.pl
formmail.cgi

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ADDING /DELETING


Databases From the main admin screen select the " Create/Delete Database" button.
To add a database,
type the database name in the name entry box and press Add Database.

From here you can exit to the main admin screen to enter the database fields. The user is prevented from using any duplicate database names.

DELETING A DATABASE
Deleting a database , requires selecting a database from the database selection box and then pressing "Delete Database" to delete it.

Once done, exit to the main admin screen.

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ADDING/DELETING/MODIFYING FIELDS

ADDING FIELDS
In this section, you have the ability to add/delete fields,change field names, add multiple selections for a field(as for a list box or radio buttons)and delete/rename those selections.
Once a database is created, you are immediately taken into the "ADD/DELETE Fields" screen where you can input fields(categories). You may also get to this screen by pressing on the "Add/Delete Fields" button on the main admin screen.

1 .) Field Name, give a field Name . Include symbols like "$" for dollars or "lbs." for pounds so the user has a better understanding of what he's searching for.

2).Type in the length of the field in characters( ie, 20 ), this will be the length of any text box.

3).Make a selection for the type of field.
      Types of fields:
a). Text: This field is used when there is a wide variety of  possible inputs, for        example, "Price"
                             
b) Select box: This is used when there is a specified number of multiple      selections.
    Select the "Select Box" type and press "Add Field", this takes to the      "Add Field Selection" entry box.
    Type in the selection in the box then press submit. Once submitted, the field      selection appears in the field selection box.

Continue entering all the selections for the select box. Press cancel, when you are done.
c).Radio: The radio type like the select box allows a person to choose among a number of possible selections for a field . This is not as compact a layout structure as the select box which drops down. It allows a person to see all the choices available. This type should only be used for fields in which only one choice is possible. Follow the same procedure as with the select box.

d).Checkbox:This type ised used when a yes/no , true /false decision is to be made. This type is checked for for true. When checked it takes on a true state and has a value equal to the field's name .An example of this is, if the field is "Married" and the checkbox is checked then its value is true and equals "Married". The word "Married" appears in the database table. e).Email: This allows a person to enter an email address for a field. This may for example be contact information for a supplier. The information here has the form "email@multidbexpress.com".

f) Picture: This allows uploading of a picture from a PC to the web into the database. This picture may be of the formats GIF or JPG with extentions .gif , .jpg, .jpeg.

g). Comments: When additional , miscallaneous information needs to be given , use this type. You may for example put if your database was "Real Estate" write in the comments box " This house has pool , patio, and is l ocated near malls and schools." This can be used in a search. Press "Finished" to complete the field addition process. This takes you to the Field Data entry screen.

DELETING/MODIFYING FIELDS
Fields and their selections(for multiple selection fields,ie. radio and list boxes) can be modified.
Field deletion requires selecting a field in the field box to the left and pressing "OK" in the pop up box. The field when processed vanishes from the selection box. Hit "Admin Page" button to take you out of that screen.

To rename a field, select a field in the left box and press "CANCEL". Another pop up box appears asking to Rename the field or to modify the field's selections.Press "OK" .A prompt box appears asking for the new name , type in the new name and press "OK" else "Cancel".

To add/delete field selections(for multiple selection types-radio and list), select a field out the left box and press "Cancel" in the pop up box. Another popup box appears, "Asking to rename or modify the field", Press "Cancel" again. You're now on the modify field selections screen. Like the previous "Add/Delete" screen , you can add/delete selections for radio and list box types.

To add, type in the Selection Name you want to add and then add it. To delete and modify a field selection's name, click on the selection and follow the same process as for the field deleting/renaming above.

***Note changing field names later with list and radio field types can cause certain entries not to be found. BE CAREFUL when doing this process later on when the database has data in it.

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ADD FIELDS DATA
Pressing Add Fields Data on the main admin screen takes you into the field data entry screen All fields entered show here for data to be entered or selected. The fields require either a mouse click to select or by typing in the information.

The picture field requires a little explanation. The picture field displays a text box with a button marked "Browse" next to it. Pressing it causes the directories on your PC to be displayed, a picture may be chosen here by clicking on it and pressing "OPEN". The file and the directory appears in the text box. Press "ADD" to add this entry to the database. This returns you to the same screen for you to make another selection. Pressing "Cancel" takes you to the main admin page and "Search Form" to the search from to make a search.

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SEARCH/MODIFY/DELETE FIELD DATA

SEARCHING
Pressing the "Search/Modify/Delete" button takes you to the search screen to make a search and to modify an entry. All the fields entered are displayed here. A search is made using each of the fields data provided. To make the broadest search possible, leave all the fields blank. All records will be displayed . Every field you select gets "ANDed" with any other fields entered thus providing an increasingly narrower search. You may use logicals:" <,> when comparing numbers.Example : for salary more than 30000, you would enter in the box " >30000" or "<30000" for less than 30000.

Follow the table below for usage:

Symbol Meaning Example

 

SEARCHING RULES :For all text boxes, you may type a single word or number or for a range use the following rules Symbol Meaning Example Comparing Numbers > greater than >=100 < less than <=100.

MODIFY/DELETE FIELD DATA
Once a search is done, An entry can be selected to delete it or to modify it. For deletion, simply check the entry to delete in the checkbox and press " Delete Checked Entries". The entry is deleted and you are returned to the search form.

Modifying an entry requires clicking on the modify entry link on the search results table . This pulls up a screen with all the data for that entry. This looks just like the entry data screen. Change what you want changed and press "Process Modify' button.

A confirmation will be given for which you can check OK to accept or "Redo" to redo it. OK takes you to the search form and Cancel to cancel the process and return you to the main admin screen.

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IMPORT DATABASE
MultiDB allows importing of a comma or tab delimited text file. The file may be imported from your local PC or from a directory on the web server. First, the specify the filename to be imported . You must Ftp to the server. Specify the database name you would like to have. Press "Import File" to create a database.
This file has the form "DBNAME_exportezdb.log ".

In importing as from Excel or Access you should export the file as a comma delimited with the fields in the first row.

Here's the format of the import file.
This would be contained withing the file.
example :

clients.txt contains

"Name","Age"
"Dexter","35"

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EXPORT DATABASE
Databases can be tranferred via text files to your local PC to be fed into another database. Select the database name to transfer. Select the type of data seperating punctuation (comma or tab) and press process. The database is converted into a text file which can be downloaded using your browser. The results appear in their own browser window which can be copied and pasted to your machine. Save this file as "filename.txt" .

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OUTPUT DISPLAY SEARCH OUTPUT PAGE pg 1 of 2
The search output display page allows customizing of the user search results page 1) Specifying of colors: . Set colors for text,page and table background and border colors.

2).Header info: It allows insertion of an HTML header which can display specific company information like logo and contact info.

3).Freeform body: Using HTML , you can specify precisly how you want the detail view of the search results to look like by taking the fields names and placing them between ~~ (example ~~Price~~ ) in the Html code You can use an HTML text editor (example Dream Weaver)and copy the HTML code and paste it into the freeform body text box.

4)Footer: Like the header , company info can be placed here using HTML Code. Press "SAVE" to save your work, CANCEL to exit, or Next to continue to the next page without saving your work.

SEARCH OUTPUT PAGE SETUP pg 2 of 2

5).Summary Field: Check the fields in the box in the sequence you would like to see them on the user's summary results page Specification.

6).Input Hidden Fields: Specify the fields in the advanced search form you would like hidden to web users. Check the boxes next to the fields.

7).Output Hidden Fields: Specify the fields in the results you would like hidden to web users(maybe for security). Check the boxes next to the fields. These fields will not appear in the generic summary or detailed results pages.

8).Security-which fields do you want to show? By checking the field boxes, you can prevent them from showing up in search query pages and the search results screen. Be careful , if you may up a custom results or search page and include the restricted fields , they will show.

9.) Number of Search Results per page: Any number lines you want specified on the search results page can be done so by entering Lines displayed a number in its text box.

10). Search Results Return Page- If you specify a URL to a custom page here, the user will be returned to this page after a search else a generic search form is created. To save changes, press "SAVE VALUES". Note: Unless the Save button is pressed all previous values for the parameters on that page are kept

11). Database Account Setup Site Configurations-
Choose 1 of the 4 setups below.

No Post- No Pay, Unregistered Search- I want people to simply search with no registration
No Pay Registerd Post- I want people to search but I want them their email to register and
      allow them to post to the database.
No Pay Unregistered Search & Paid, Registered Post-I want people to pay to post but allow free searching
Paid Registered Search, Paid Post- I want people to pay to post and search

**You can choose to have automatic card processing through North Star Solutions or
activate the accounts manually on the admin side under "User Accounts" where by you would check active by the particular user

12). Paid Registered Search Notification email-
When someone signs up , notify the admin here-email here.

13). Service fee/Period- The default is 5 years.

Days -Number of days after which the account is removed from the active database.
Amount- dollar amount for the days above.

14).Credit Cards-If you are doing billing yourself then specify cards.

Credit Cards accepted VisaMaster Card Amex Discover

15).-----------North Star Solutions--------------------------

This is used for automatic card processing

North Star Solutions will bill for me at 4% total sale and accept major credit cards. Contact North Star at www.nstarsolutions.com for account setup No Merchant account needed. If North Star,specify all below
Product Name-automatically made Must match database name
Product ID# -Given to you by North Star
Your account ID#- -Given to you by North Star

** You will have to setup an account with North Store at nstarsolutions.com and enter the products or memberships name ( make it the same name as the database , it really doesnt matter with this system)

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USER SEARCH
User Search Form- This is designed by the admin with the admin specifying the search fields and databases. It may be the generic program generated page or a custom designed search page. If a database is required , a URL to the cgi-script including database name must be put on the form designating a link
User Search Results -The user gets a search page results looking like that specified by the Output Display section. The admin has access to the user search view by pressing the "User Search" button.

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Admin Registration/Login
The password and username are written into the program near the top. This keeps it safe from prying eyes. Current settings - username=test password=test CAR- Do it yourself database

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Designing a Database
You may want to look at the prebuilt Real Estate database to get familiar with the admin section screens to see how that one is setup up.

Using the Wizard let's do the following.

We will build a custom searchable databse site.

Lets take an example like CARS.

For Cars we may have the fields (specs)
1.Make
2.Model
3.Picture
4.Price

First after logging in . http://www.multidbexpress.com/mdblogin.htm
Password: test    username: test or whatever you set it to.

1)Click on the Wizard on the main admin panel.

This brings up the Add Database screen.

Type in the add box the database name(Cars) .
Press "Add database" It now appears along with the other databases.

2) You are now on the screen where you specify the database type:

You have various prebuilt ones. Select Continue without checking any of the options.

3). Template selection

Select the style tamplate you want then select 'Continue'. You can also upload a custom template with the specifiactions provided for in the 'Custom specs link.

4) Specify Template Values

This section allows you to specify the text,fonts,sizes, andcolors for the text on the nav bars. It also allows you to add a chat room and contact form to your home search page. Once you fill out the form , select
' Preview/ Submit template'. This will generate your site and show a preview. you can get a full screen view by selecting 'View' then 'User Side Search' on the upper menu.

There is a button for 'advanced Settings' which allow you to set colors of various portions of the pages,insert custom HTML text,order the fields, Specify what fields should be hidden or not, The Search Return pages ,and member registration options. Consult that section for further assistance.

If you dont need to do customizations then simply click 'Finish'

4).Add/Delete/Modify fields

You now are on the page where you specify the categories(fields).
Add the "Make" field.
a. Type Make in the "Add Field box".
b. Type in the length (number of characters) for the input boxes. This is for the admin inputs.(say 20 for 20 character)
c. Select the type field- Make this a list drop down box or radio for multiple choices. The end user will be presented with these choices.
Press " Add Field".

d.Your on the Add Field Selections page now so you can input the various choices for the make field
Type the word- Chevy in the box . press Submit . A box comes up and asks " Enter another Selection?" Press Ok .
Then type Ford . press submit. And press Cancel to finish.

Now your back at the previous screen , do what you did in step 4a. but
e. type for the field name Model
f. type the length- 20
g. select radio or select box for type (multiple selections field).
    Press "Add Field"

h.  Repeat step 4a). you will add Family and then Sports for the model. Press Cancel when all done.

You're back at " Add Fields screen" . Let's add A Picture.-- Any gif or jpeg picture
i).Type Picture in the box.
j). type 20 for length
k). select the Picture type Press "Add Field"

Now for the price field

a). type Cost$ in the box
b). type 20 for length
c). Select text type since there can be a huge range of values Press " Add       Field"  then press " Finish"

Click Continue if your're finished.

7).Adding Entries/Data Entry

If you want to add entries you can now do so by simply adding the data then clicking 'Add'.

Time to do some data entry. Select anything you want to enter. for the picture press " Browse" to look up for a .jpg or .gif file. Select it.... Press "Add" to enter the data. Make another entry , Press Add.

Want to see the results? press "User Search" button to get to the search page.

9) On the Search page , select a particular field by typing or clicking on it. You might want to just type " Do Search" without selecting anything first to see all the results. ( Does all the fields you typed in appear in the top row? If not, go to the " Output Display" section and go to the bottom of the page & press " Next Page". Here on page 2. Click on the fields in the same order as they appear or you can place them in any order you want. This will be diplayed to the customer. While here you can also select fields not to be diplayed by clicking on them in the security section. You can also select how many results per page the end user sees. Also for custum search pages, what URL you want your search to return to( for end user) and performing a search. If this is blank , you return to the generic search page(which you can use to make a custom search page and use its URL here). Press "Save Values" when done). Now you can go back to the search screen by pressing "Cancel" and "Search/modify/" button . Make your selections. Press " Do Search" , there are your results. press "Cancel"

10) Do a User Search: Press " User Search" on the main admin screen. if you did any of the customizing features above , your user pages will look similar to the admins. As mentioned above you can custom make your only search page by taking the program's generic form it makes and copying(copy and paste) it into a HTML page using Dream Weaver for example.

Perform a search here, as you did on the admin side. The user is provided a help screen if needed. if you created and specified a URL in the Admin's "Output Display" section . then after the search you will be returned to the custom page when " New Search" is pressed. This completes the do it yourself db CAR demo.

Interfacing from your Website to a Database

Generic Search Page

To connect to the generic database search form, you need to make a link like the following:

http://your url/cgi-bin/multidbuser.pl?dbname=DATABASE_NAME&route=usersearchform

Links have been generated by MultiDB and can be found at

http://yourURL.com/multidb/databaselinks.htm

Note : use _ instead of spaces in the database name.

Custom Search Page

You can use the generic search page which is generated automatically to create a custom search page as with our Real Estate Demo. Simpy press "User Search" to generate the generic search page when the database is finished. You can then copy and paste this page into a test editor. Remove any fields as you desired from the page add graphics. Name this page any name you want and save it. Under Output Display in the Admin section ,fill in on page 2 the URL of the custom page you made. You can also put links to other pages on the custom search page.

Notes

Fields
When Fields are added later after the initial setup , you need to go to the"Output Display" section to select them and make them visible.
Exporting databases
If on export , an error messge comes up as page not found ,go to the "Output Display" Section and select the fields in the order you would like to make them appear. Then go to the export section and then try exporting a database.

Recommendations- Nothing beats a well thought out database. Think of all the fields you need and order them for easy data entry. If changes are to be made, they are easy to do before info is placed in the database. Do a test entry, make sure all fields show up in the search results page and then customize the page. Remember if fields dont' show up in the search results page go to the "Output Display" section " page 2 and select them for you summary fields. Dexter Coelho., ruby@interpoint.net MultiDB by Ruby Enterprises